Employer Branding and Recruitment: The 5 Cs

Recruitment advertising now goes beyond posting a job ad and waiting for an influx of candidates. It requires an understanding of the market and identifying ways to use your brand to attract the best talent.

In recruitment, your employer brand plays a huge part in attracting the right people. According to a Glassdoor survey (2014), 94% of jobseekers are likely to apply to a job if the employer actively manages their employer brand, so it’s something worth thinking about.

A brand is the way others feel about your company and how they view it. When it comes to recruiting, the employer brand is focused on your organisation being a great place to work (which should be in the mind of current employees as well as potential candidates). To learn more about employer branding, download our case study.

Webrecruit Ireland looks at the importance of the link between recruitment and the employer brand, with 5 top tips on how to enforce this relationship. We call it the 5 Cs of employer branding and recruitment.

Content Creation

Content is a great way to build awareness of your company. The type of content that you create can be targeted in order to attract a particular audience.

Be strategic about what you are creating and sharing. Great content can positively influence an individual’s perception of your organisation and brand.

From webinars to blog posts, look to share content relevant to individuals that you would like to work for the business. If you are unsure, create hypothetical personas of those you are looking to reach, in order to easily tailor your posts.

Candidate Experience

An ingenious candidate experience is a powerful one. The type of company you are should be underpinned throughout your recruitment experience.

Remember, the candidate should be treated like a customer so act as a company that wants to deal with people, and communicate regularly. The more you focus on how you would like to be treated as a candidate, the better your candidate experience will be.

A negative experience will increase the number of dropouts, and can put candidates off applying for your roles altogether. So, seek to offer an experience that enforces and is representative of your brand.

Connections

How do you connect with candidates? Not just through standard communications, but on a more personable level. Look to convey your brand personality as an honest one, bringing a more personal effect to your employer branding strategies.

Featuring stories from clients, customers and employees on your website can be a great way to show individuals who have been positively impacted by your company.

Company Culture

Your culture informs the basis of the brand, whereas your employer brand promotes these cultural indicators. Consequently, the type of culture you have should be evident within each aspect of your hiring process. For example, you could highlight your culture within videos, or use pictures of staff in your blog posts.

Think about the culture you are looking to portray, and make sure this is clear across all your recruiting channels.

If you aren’t sure, ask questions. What culture are you trying to present? What ethics does your company act upon? Look at the way your company works, and bring this across in your attraction strategy.

Consistency

Sending out an ‘off-brand’ message will only confuse what you are trying to say. So, keep your brand message simple and concise across the recruitment strategy.

Whichever method you use to enforce your brand throughout your recruiting, ensure consistency. It takes a substantial amount of time to build a brand following, and only seconds to destroy it.

Conclusion

The most important aspect of the recruitment/employer brand relationship is that candidates need to see the potential in your company to encourage them to apply. Therefore, think about what you have to offer candidates, and use this in your methods for attraction.